Bill Tieleman is one of BC's best known communicators, political commentators and strategists.
Bill writes a politics column Tuesdays in 24 Hours newspaper and The Tyee online magazine.
Bill has been Communications Director in the B.C. Premier's Office and at the BC Federation of Labour.
Bill owns West Star Communications, a consulting firm providing strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government.

Would
you sign an important deal where the details were secret until after your name
was inked on the page?

An
agreement that you are told will be great, but could either cost you your job
or boost your pay, help or hurt your working conditions, and allow you to be
sued if you break the rules you haven't yet seen?

Of
course not. That would be insane.

But
that's exactly what Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government
wants to do -- sign a deal we can't see that affects trade with 11 other
countries, including major partners the United States and Japan.

You've
probably never even heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, but
Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast flies
to Hawaii on July 28 for meetings that could finalize the secret negotiations.

However,
big business sure knows the TPP -- and loves it.

"The
TPP is the biggest game on the planet in terms of trade negotiations," wrote
the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and
the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters in a letter endorsing the unseen
deal.

But
not so fast, Fast, said Don Davies, Vancouver Kingsway MP and NDP trade critic.

"We've
got to wait and see the actual text of the agreement, consider it, consult the
public and then decide," Davies told me this week. "The Conservative
government approach to trade is to conduct negotiations in utter, total secrecy
-- they've shut out Parliament."

Canadians
are totally in the dark, Davies said, but not big business because "a
select group of insiders have been briefed on it."

'We
have to be defensive': NDP's Davies

In
fact, the only real details emerging from TPP talks came when WikiLeaks published
a secret draft chapter in January detailing how foreign companies would be able
to directly "sue" governments through an Investor State Dispute
Settlement process outside of Canada's legal system.

That
means multinationals could force taxpayers to compensate them for any health,
environmental, land use, financial or other government policies that they claim
don't give them "fair and equal treatment."

The
biggest possible threats
to Canada include our dairy and poultry industries, where "supply
management" regulations protect domestic farmers -- that is, marketing
boards that regulate domestic production and put high import tariffs on foreign
producers.

TPP
also endangers copyright and privacy protection laws as outlined
in The Tyee, with TPP being described as "digital free trade."

Davies
is concerned about what he knows of the TPP, and more concerned about what he doesn't.
But he is careful not to say that the TPP should be rejected sight unseen, nor
endorsed without knowing the details.

"There
is a potential plus to being at the table and in an agreement, but there are
also threats," Davies said. "This is a U.S.-dominated trade deal --
and they protect their interests.

"Canadians
should approach TPP with a balanced perspective. There is a cost of being out.
We have to be defensive," he said.

That
view contrasts with Harper's heavy emphasis on getting a deal and telling
Canadians to trust him, and the federal Liberals' position of endorsing the TPP
while wringing their hands and saying they'd try to improve it later, as they
did on Bill C-51, the Conservative security legislation.

"It
would be really devastating for Canada to be left on the outside, and it's the
job of the government to negotiate a deal that benefits all sectors of the
economy, absolutely including the supply-managed industries," Liberal MP
and trade critic Chrystia Freeland said
in June.

Kind
of hard to tell how devastating when we don't know almost anything about it,
other than it's very secret.

Davies
said that's the Conservative approach to trade deals.

"Negotiate
in secret, put a gun to the heads of your opponents, and try to force them to
agree," Davies said. "Ultimately it's unproductive."

Deal
about 'containing China': law expert

The
list of countries involved in the TPP is also bizarre, with no obvious
linkages: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

The
exclusions have led many observers to conclude the deal is aimed at reducing
the influence of China.

"The
trade deal isn't primarily significant because of the economy. It matters
because it's part of the broader American geostrategic goal of containing China
-- which pointedly hasn't been invited to join the TPP," writes
Noah Feldman, a Harvard professor of international law.

Meanwhile,
Davies worries about how well-protected Canadians will be in a trade agreement
with Brunei and Vietnam, which are not democracies.

"We
are dealing with countries that do not meet normative, minimal standards in
labour, human and environmental rights," Davies said, noting that Brunei
has imposed a law
that can punish same-sex acts with stoning to death.

American
legislators are equally unhappy.

"A
country that has laws that are anathema to American values doesn't deserve to
be in our trade negotiations," said California Democratic Representative
John Garamendi. "We need to send a clear message."

Malaysia
is also repressive
to gay, lesbian and transgendered people, whose rights are routinely violated
by federal and state authorities.

So
far, Canada's message has been clear -- no rights, no problem.

Unprecedented
and unwarranted secrecy

And
then there's the unprecedented secrecy surrounding all aspects of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The
TPP draft chapter released by WikiLeaks shows that the U.S. has classified the
text to keep it a secret.

"Even
if current negotiations over the trade agreement end with no deal, the draft
chapter will still remain classified for four years as national security
information," law professor Margot Kaminski wrote
in the New York Times.

"National
security secrecy may be appropriate to protect us from our enemies; it should
not be used to protect our politicians from us," she wrote.

Outspoken
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont agrees.

"It
is incomprehensible to me that the leaders of major corporate interests are
actively involved in the writing of the TPP, while the elected officials of
this country have little or no knowledge as to what is in it," Sanders said.

But
U.S. President Barack Obama, with support primarily from Republican
legislators, got approval
to "fast track" TPP negotiations with minimal interference.

Secrecy,
violation of human rights by potential partners -- none of this worries big
business in the least.

In
one of a series of opinion pieces salted through major media, the Canadian
Manufacturers and Exporters even had the nerve to say that TPP endorsement is a
no-brainer, unless -- shudder -- "partisan politics" intervene.

"Canada's
participation in TPP should not be a tough decision, and even with an election
looming, it is too important to be held hostage to partisan politics. Canada
needs to be part of the TPP deal as soon as it is concluded," wrote
CMA vice-president Jeff Brownlee.

Never
mind that the most partisan prime minister Canada has seen is pushing the TPP
through without legislative scrutiny or public consultation -- what's good for
big business should be good for everyone!

Nice
try.

Here's
the real bottom line on the TPP: no details, no deal. It's that simple.

Bill Tieleman and Senator Larry Campbell, former Vancouver mayor

Jim Sinclair, Cindy Oliver, Ken Georgetti and Bill Tieleman

Bill Tieleman's coverage of the Basi-Virk/BC Legislature Raid Case praised by other journalists:

"This outstanding piece of journalism, in The Tyee, is the work of a journalist who has been deeply involved with this issue from the start and this article should be passed on as far and wide as possible."

"Bill Tieleman from 24 hours . . . . If you want to know about this trial and about this case, you have to read his blog – I mean, that’s just all there is to it – it’s required reading if you want to understand the BC Legislature Raid situation."

- Mike Smyth, columnist, The Province

"The Basi-Virk case....you’ve probably sat through more of these hearings and gone through more of the files and written about it than any other journalist in the province."

- Bill Good, host, The Bill Good Show, CKNW/Corus Radio Network

"Tieleman ...has done a first-rate job covering the trial."

- Paul Willcocks, columnist, the Victoria Times-Colonist

"Tieleman, who marries a considerable journalistic talent with one of the smartest political minds in the province, has been writing more web-exclusive material. And his coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is a must-read -- whether you're an insider or an outsider."

"24 Hours, the Vancouver paper that has been leading the coverage, as well as the hints of conspiracy in B.C."

- Norman Spector, columnist, Globe and Mail

"Although the major media in this circumstance has been giving the case significant coverage, Tieleman's reports on his blog have been outstanding.

The entire cut and thrust of legal wrangling and arguments has been covered and is accompanied by considered analysis.....His blog site coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is the most in depth treatment of one of British Columbia's biggest political scandals."

- Bill Bell, columnist, The North Shore News

"Mr. Tieleman has published online dispatches which, freed from the limitations of newsprint space or broadcast time, can run at length. They also remain available for those select readers who become obsessed with a case also known as Railgate.....

In another bizarre twist to a story with no shortage of them, Mr. Tieleman went to work one day in December only to discover his office had been ransacked. Bookcases had been tipped over and papers strewn, but nothing was missing.

To top it off, a press kit for the self-published novel The Raid, written by a retired military officer in Metchosin and featuring on its cover a photograph from the 2003 police raid, had been left in a conspicuous place."

- Tom Hawthorn, columnist, The Globe and Mail

Nobody has followed the Basi-Virk affair over its past five years with greater diligence than local journalist, Bill Tieleman....Tieleman deserves our thanks, a fistful of journalism awards and some merit citation for citizenship.